The data below records the prevalence of physical fatherlessness, which affects more than 25,000,000 children. Emotional fatherlessness—when dad is in the home, but not emotionally engaged with his child's life—affects millions more.
- According to 72.2 % of the U.S. population, fatherlessness is the most significant family or social problem facing America.
Source: National Center for Fathering, Fathering in America Poll, January, 1999.
- An estimated 23.6 million children (32.3 percent) live absent their biological father.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau. Current Population Survey Reports. "Household Relationship and Living Arrangements of Children Under 18 Years, by Age, Sex, Race, Hispanic Origin: 2004.
- Of students in grades 1 through 12, 39 percent (17.7 million) live in homes absent their biological fathers.
Source: Nord, Christine Winquist, and Jerry West. Fathers' and Mothers' Involvement in their Children's Schools by Family Type and Resident Status. Table 1. (NCES 2001-032). Washington, DC: U.S. Dept of Education, National Center of Education Statistics, 2001.
- Children who were part of the "post war generation" could expect to grow up with two biological parents who were married to each other. Eighty percent did. Today, only about 50% of children will spend their entire childhood in an intact family.
Source: David Poponoe, "American Family Decline, 1960-1990: A Review and Appraisal" Journal of Marriage and Family 55 (August 1993).
- With the increasing number of premarital births and a continuing high divorce rate, the proportion of children living with just one parent rose rom 9 percent in 1960 to 28 percent in 1996. Currently, 57.7 percent of all black children, 31.8 percent of all Hispanic children, and 20.9 percent of all white children are living in single-parent homes.
Source: Saluter, Arlen F. Marital Status and Living Arrangements: March 1994., US Bureau of the Census, Current Population Report. p28-484. Washington, DC: GPO, 1996. US Bureau of the Census. Statistical Abstract of the United States 1997, Washington, DC: GPO, 1997.
Year 1960 1970 1980 1990 1995
% 8.0 10.8 18.0 21.6 23.4
Source: US Congress Committee on Ways and Means, The Green Book, (1996); US Bureau of the Census. Statistical Abstract of the United States 1997, (1997).
- White children born in the 1950-1954 period spent only 8% of their childhood with just one parent; black children spent 22%. Of those born in 1980, by one estimate, white children can be expected to spend 31% of their childhood years with one parent, and black children 59%.
Source: Popenoe, David. Life Without Father (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996), 23.
Year 1960 1970 1980 1990 1995
% White 6.1 7.8 13.5 16.2 18.3
% Black 19.1 29.5 43.9 51.2 58.3
Source: US Congress Committee on Ways and Means, The Green Book, (1996); US Bureau of the Census. Statistical Abstract of the United States 1997, (1997).
